Personalize Your Plates

If effectively chosen, your business name can convey what you
do, pinpoint your business's location, or deliver a subtle
message of quality and elegance. If poorly chosen, the name can
limit your business's growth or, worse, confuse potential
customers. Naming a business is more an art than a science, with
few hard-and-fast rules.

"Don't copy or spin off something that worked for
someone else. Instead, figure out why it worked well and try
to use the idea behind it. Create something to pull people in, to
give them an idea of what you do," says Richard McCluhan,
owner of several businesses in Mankato, Minnesota, including a
restaurant and Richard McCluhan & Associates Inc., a holding
company for an Express Personnel Services franchise and for
Ergo-Rite, which manufactures and markets an ergonomic cart for
offices and factories.

Your business name or tag line should tell customers what you
do, says Richard Gerson, a Clearwater, Florida, management and
marketing consultant. For example, if "Charlene Ford"
creates brochures and newsletters, she could call her business
Communications Unlimited or CF Communications, but not simply CF
Unlimited--it's too vague.

Including the business's location in the name can be helpful
for a business to which customers must come, such as a
mechanic's shop, but meaningless for, say, a computer
consultant.

Leave room for expansion and diversification. "Don't
choose a name so specific that it will constrict the
business," says Riley Harrison, a Minneapolis consultant for
beginning entrepreneurs. "If you call your custom-chair
business `Chairs-R-Us,' what will you do when you begin making
tables to match?"

"Make sure the business name is easy to spell and
pronounce," Harrison advises. "If you name your company
`GloveCo,' you may be unpleasantly surprised to hear a radio
announcer advertising it as `Glove-ee-co.' " In this case,
you might try something like "Gloves-R-Us."

A descriptive name can include words that provide nuances.
McCluhan chose his mother's Sicilian birth name for his Cafe
Camarda, pronounced kah-MAR-duh. "The name tells you
it's a restaurant, yet it conveys an aura of romanticism,"
McCluhan says. "People ask about it, giving me the opportunity
to explain that we specialize in Sicilian cuisine. Using my own
name--Cafe McCluhan--would sound stupid."

To make your business appear bigger, consider including words
like enterprises, unlimited, associates,
industries or corporation (only if you are
incorporated). If your image is that of a small business offering
personal attention, omit words that give an impression of grand
size.

You should consider developing your logo before finalizing your
business name. When Melissa Balkcom founded Performance Edge Inc.,
an Albuquerque, New Mexico, consulting business that offers
marketing services and organizational development and training, she
chose a name that projects an image of cutting-edge quality, yet is
not so specific it might prevent her from adding other business
services. To create a memorable image and identity, she set a high
priority on logo development, interviewing several graphic artists
before choosing one to design the logo.

Using your personal name for your business can give you a
jump-start if you have a good personal reputation and people
recognize your name. It's also a good idea for a business in
which you plan to develop personal name recognition to provide
business credibility, as Mary Brown, an entrepreneur in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, has done. Brown, who manages fashion models and
coaches business executives and television reporters in visual and
speaking style, has become a familiar face and name by regularly
discussing fashion trends and local success stories on KCRG-TV9, an
ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids. After four years in business as
Professional Development Image Firm, Brown realized it would be
advantageous to change her company's name to Mary Brown's
Image Group. She moved her offices to a more visible location in
Cedar Rapids and held a grand opening to draw attention to the name
change.

There's also value in using a family name known in the area
where you will do business. If the business fails, however, your
personal or family name may be associated with failure.

If you buy an existing business, should you change its name? Not
unless the company has a poor reputation, says Rick Rios, president
of JTI Systems Inc., an engineering consulting firm in Albuquerque.
"When I bought JTI, it had name recognition, even though the
business itself was at a standstill," he says. "I kept
the name, added a logo, and developed new clients."

To make sure you have the right to use the name you've come
up with--and to keep someone else from using your business
name--contact the Public Affairs, Patent and Trademark Office,
Washington, DC 20231, (703) 305-8341.

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